


Ivory and Warm Gray

by TintedPink



Series: Lysa Does Something Stupid [15]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Mentor to Lover, Or as slow burn as something this size can be., Slow Burn, Student/Teacher, Tony learns magic, but not really, but only after he stopped being his mentor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18784090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TintedPink/pseuds/TintedPink
Summary: Tony gets on Stephen’s nerves until Stephen get’s on Tony’s nerves, and then they kiss





	Ivory and Warm Gray

**Author's Note:**

> The prompts was “student/teacher” But the power dynamics squick me, so instead you have Stephen teaches Tony magic, and a bunch of stuff afterwards that eventually ends in kissing.

How it starts:

“You know, Doc, for a Wizard, you aren’t so bad. I might just have to visit Hogwarts again.”

Stephen glared at Tony and Tony just smiled like it was normal.

“I’m a master of the mystic arts. Stop calling me a wizard.”

“You do magic. You’re a wizard. Get over it.”

“It’s not that simple. I’m not waving a wand around saying one word to make things happen. Magic is a complex art. I’ve basically got an unofficial doctorate in the Mystic Arts.”

“And now you’re a doctor Wizard.” Tony nodded, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

And that’s when Stephen pushed Tony’s astral form out of his body.

———

“For the record, I did not consent to be magicked. I feel violated.”

“You ever met a wizard who could do that?” Stephen asked as he helped Tony back to his feet from where he’d fallen.

“Yeah, you.” Tony grimaced as Stephen pulls him up by the left hand.

Stephen glared.

“Okay, okay, point taken. That’s not the Harry Potter mumble jumbo. Don’t turn me into a ghost again.”

“That wasn’t a ghost, you were on the astral plane.”

“I was definitely dead. Not cool.”

“If you were dead, you wouldn’t have been able to return to your body.”

“Oh my god you’re right. I must be Jesus.”

Stephen groaned. He knew Tony was messing with him, but he couldn’t stand the line Tony’s conversation was taking. He just wanted to fix it.

“If you knew anything about magic you’d know why everything you just said is wrong.”

Tony raised an eyebrow “alright then. Teach me.”

———

“No, Tony, you have to. Stop that! You have to concentrate on yourself. Stop looking at what everyone else is doing and trying to imitate them. It’s not as simple as getting the motions right.”

“I’ll say. Since when does spinning your hand in a circle make a portal?”

“Okay, let’s try this again.”

———

“Holy shit! Magic works!”

———

“Tony, you’ve been here for hours. You need to sleep.”

“Just a couple more minutes. I’ll finish this page and be out of your hair.”

“It’s not my hair I’m worried about. You’re exhausting yourself.”

Tony looked up from the tome he was studying and locked his gaze on Stephen’s.

“There’s an entire world of magic that I can’t defend us against. Exhaustion is the least of my worries.”

A portal appeares under Tony’s book and it falls through, landing it Stephen’s hand. “Get some sleep, you can keep studying tomorrow.”

When Tony goes to bed, Stephen checks on him in the astral plane to make sure he’s actually sleeping.

He is.

That time.

———

“So, I’m conbining this with the suit and you can’t stop me.”

“The relic chose you. I’m not going to fight you on that.”

Tony almost didn’t believe him, but Stephen keeps his word.

———

“You can leave here, and go back out there, but if you do, I ask that you not use any magic that might easily be identified as magic.”

“What, afraid I’m going to expose your secret school for witchcraft and wizardry?”

“In a word, yes.”

———

Stephen stepped through a portal into Tony’s living room while Tony watched the news, mostly just surprised that anyone had caught him.

“I asked you for one thing.”

“I didn’t think anyone would see me!”

“They have camera footage of you creating a portal.”

“It’s not like they didn’t know magic existed!”

Stephen glared.

Tony creates a portal and jumps through it to get away from Stephen.

Of course, Stephen follows him via his own portal, so that doesn’t really work, but for a second Tony felt like he’d escaped.

———

“They’re calling me a technomage. I could get used to this.”

“When you got caught doing magic, your job was to do less magic for the cameras, not more.”

“Strange, Doc, Stephen, they already knew about magic. Why keep a secret if everyone knows it?”

———

“Okay, that time it actually wasn’t me.”

“I know it wasn’t you. Your magic isn’t anywhere near strong enough for this kind of spell.”

“Rude. But fair. Who was it then?”

“Leave that to me. You’re already in over your head.”

“I’m always in over my head. I also always make it out.”

“Stay here.”

“Sure.”

———

“This doesn’t look like sure!”

Tony was using a combination of tech and magic to shoot and shield himself from a monster summoned from another dimension.

“Well, I tried for as long as I could. That should count. Besides, I basically have an unofficial PhD in saving the world, so I think I can hold my own.”

Just then the monster knocks Tony out of the sky and Stephen has to rush defeating the monster to get to him.

———

“I told you not to be there because your magic is a liability. You needed shields that you don’t have the skills to conjure yet.”

“Then you should’ve taught me,” Tony coughed from what was probably his death bed. “Give it to me, straight, Fox, how long have I got.” He was really feeling the bruising across his back and chest where he had slammed into the ground and a monster tail.

“Unfortunately, you’re going to be living a long life in the wake of your own stupidity. Consider yourself lucky.” He’d lost an apprentice in the battle.

“Every day.” Tony coughed again, and clutched his ribs where they stung him.

“Is there someone I should call for you?”

“Rhodey, he’s my emergency contact. If I’m not dying, though, it’s probably better not to contact him.”

Stephen sighed.

———

“Strange? I brought you a get well present.” It was tech, of course, but tech made for Stephen, for his hands.

Stephen was the one laid up post battle, his injuries of magical origin, but relatively harmless with time. Creating and performing a counter spell would take longer than just waiting for it to wear off.

“You shouldn’t have.” Stephen said as he tried to sit up.

Tony put a hand on his shoulder. “No, no, no. Wong said not to move. We trust Wong. We listen to Wong. Don’t move.” He handed Stephen the bagged (not wrapped) present and Stephen was surprised to find how light it was.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that, you’ll like it.”

Steve dumped out the contents of the bad and sifted through the tissue paper until he found a set of fingerless gloves made of material so lightweight that Stephen was astonished.

“They’re like nothing.” He said, slipping one on, only to be dazed by magical symbols slashing and then dying down again.

“They’re my own design, like those copper things, but a thousand times better, and enhanced with magic so they’ll basically never need to be replaced. You’re welcome.”

Tony started collecting the bag and tissue paper, leaving the other glove for Stephen to try on. He flexed his fingers, the pain in them significantly decreased and the shakiness barely visible. His hands were still weak, he could feel the lack of muscles in them as he clenched and unclenched his fist. He stared at them and then looked back up at Tony. “Thank you.”

Tony shrugged, and started towards the door again. “Don’t say I never paid you back for the magic lessons doc.”

———

“Tony? Can you hear me? Where does it hurt?”

Tony gurgled, and that was a really bad sign. “Tony!” Stephen yelled as the man passed out. Stephen, not knowing what else to do, laid down and pushed himself into the astral plane.

_“Took you long enough. It’s been like, four second, Strange.”_

_“This isn’t funny, Tony,”_

“Uh, trust me. I know. I took a blow to the back a couple weeks ago and cracked a rib, I think it broke when I hit the ground. If my extensive knowledge of injury is correct, I punctured a lung. Doc, if I choke to death on my own blood, I’m gonna be really upset with you. Like, I might even haunt you.”

“Tony, the nearest hospital-“

“You’re wearing the gloves.” Tony pointed out and Stephen looked down at them.

“The shaking isn’t nearly-“

“Your hands are strong enough. The nano-tech in the suit can provide everything you need. Do it here. Do it now. I won’t make it to a hospital, now without a portal.” He gestured to the absent slingring on Stephen’s fingers and Stephen cursed.

“I don’t know if I-“

“I do know.” Tony cut him off, “if you don’t do it, I’ll definately die. Permanently. Come on, Stephen. I trust you. Trust yourself.”

———

“I kinda can’t believe that worked.”

“You were the one who convinced me to do it.”

Tony scoffed, now completely lucid and recovering in a hospital. “Yeah, but I mean, it was a Hail Mary.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get an infection.”

“Lucky, or just in very skilled hands?” Tony raised an eyebrow at Stephen, who rolled his eyes.

“When you get injured-“

“Don’t start, doc. If I told you about every injury I got your phone would ring four times a day. You got me. I’m good. It was a one off.”

Stephen sighed.

———

“You’re insufferable.”

“Well, back at you, doc! Were you going to tell anyone your plan was self-sacrifice, or were we just supposed to figure it out when you were dead?”

“I can’t believe you put a tracking device in my gloves.”

“That I have never once activated, until you went completely fucking AWOL. What the hell, Stephen?”

“It was the only-“

“You shut your fucking mouth.” Tony glared, advancing on Stephen and encroaching on his space. “We just proved that it wasn’t the only way.” He stabbed a finger into Stephen’s chest, anger glaring in his eyes. “If you would just share the burden, maybe this kind of shit wouldn’t keep happening.”

“It’s not that easy-“

“Stop making excuses!” Tony yelled, pushing Stephen, knocking him a couple steps back into the wall of the Sanctum. “Stop acting like no one will miss you when one of your stupid plans to get yourself killed to save the universe finally works out! You don’t get to do that! You don’t get to kill yourself without saying anything!” Stephen could see the tears welling up in Tony’s eyes, angry and obtrusive. “You don’t get to make these kinds of plans without telling anyone.”

The unspoken “without telling me” hung like humidity in the air, stucky and thick and all encompassing.

“You don’t get to do that.” Tony whispered and then he created a portal, leaving without looking back at Stephen.

———

_I’m sorry._

The simple words were printed on a simple cards, accompanied by a simple bear. When Tony picked up the store bought brown monstrosity, it started to speak.

“I never think about how my actions will affect individuals, only how they will affect the universe. I’m sorry that what I did upset you. I hope you can forgive me.”

Tony opened a portal and threw the best through it into Stephen’s study.

———

They met on the battlefield for the first time in months, and Tony was doing his best to ignore him. Stephen respected his wishes and ignored him in return.

Until a gold and red armor started falling out of the air.

Stephen made a portal, cutting his trip to the ground (and velocity) in fourths, keeping him from hitting the ground as hard as he could have.

He still made a rut in the street below him.

Stephen had to keep his focus on the battle.

Not long after, Iron Man was stumbling through the air, shields at the ready, and Stephen yelled at him.

“Iron Man, you’re injured, stand down!”

Tony ignored him.

———

When the battle was over, Stephen was fuming. He caught Tony before he could go, putting them both in the mirror dimension so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“What the hell was that!?”

“Oh come on! Like you’re one to talk.”

“You could’ve been killed!”

“I could’ve been killed? Pot? Meet Kettle,” he said, pointing to Stephen and then himself. “And I wouldn’t have died, so stop being dramatic. We won, I kicked the shit out of some aliens. Let’s go home.” He gestured to Stephen’s sling ring.

Stephen glared. “You frustrate me to no end!”

“Back at ya!”

They glared at each other too close to each other, before Tony wrenches Stephen towards him by the shirt collar and kissed him.

“Fucking wizard.”

“Idiot genius.”

They kissed again, until Wong finally pulled them out of the mirro dimension, because people were starting to worry about them.

———

“I’m thinking, eggshell tux for me, maybe something warm grey for you. We could both do a warm blue then. I know you said no red, but I think if we got matching cloaks you could wear Levi, and that’d be-“

Stephen kisses Tony in the darkness of their bedroom to shut him the hell up.

“It’s too late at night for wedding planning, Tony.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr Post](https://iwritefanficsometimes.tumblr.com/post/184789112284/stephen-strangetony-or-stephensreader-magic)


End file.
